Nate's school day had gone calmly. There were still some congratulations on becoming a were, but much of that had quieted down. Things were rapidly going back to what was normal for Moon Lake High and much of the novelty of Nate's joining were society was wearing off. Though it wasn't that he wanted to be congratulated on it all the time. Sure it was a life long dream for him, but that didn't mean that he wanted constant praise on it. In fact, with all the excitement that had gone on between his parents' respective transformations into weres, the threat Yvette Smith had posed to Eric, his own transformation, and Yvette's capture, he kind of wanted things to quiet down to as "normal" as Moon Lake could be.
"So do you want a ride home?" Ben asked him as Nate made his way from his locker to leave the school at the end of the day.
He looked over to his fellow pack member and was about to answer when Alex came around a corner and gave a friendly hello to both of them.
"Hey, Ben, hey Nate," Alex spoke as he walked up, not using the pet name that he had for Nate, "have a good afternoon?"
Both Ben and Nate nodded. It had been a good day, though Alex's presence was enough for Nate to come up with an answer to Ben's question.
"Actually... I was thinking to do something with Alex and get to know him better..." Nate managed, "You know more than just... you know."
"Okay then," Ben nodded, "have fun..."
"We'll probably end up working more on homework than anything else," Alex commented, "and I'll still be meeting Nate's parents... Don't want to make a bad impression."
Ben raised an eyebrow and then smirked, leaving Nate to wonder what Ben was getting at.
"Don't worry," Ben said to Alex, "Show them your personality and you'll do fine. Mrs. Anderson is a real pussycat. Be friendly and cordial and she'll like you."
Nate shook his head at Ben's joke about his mother's status as a werecat. It wasn't super corny, but it was headed in that direction. Alex, however, only chuckled playfully as though the joke wasn't as bad as it was.
"Still... I don't want to make a bad impression," Alex answered.
Ben nodded, "say have you seen Eric? He might need a ride?"
"No... and he might have gone to the bus already," Nate answered, "he wasn't at his locker."
"Okay then," Ben nodded, "Good luck."
With that, the group departed. Ben was quick to head for the student parking while Nate and Alex walked slowly, mostly to figure out what to do before dinner. Nate did feel good to be around Alex, as it was something that he'd never had before. He had some gay friends in Minnesota, but he had never gotten beyond the friend stage with them, but things had gone further with Alex, and in a way was as normal as two teenage werewolves could be. The issue that Nate knew was that he couldn't just let their relationship be limited to sex, no matter how good it was. He could remember his father's urge to be careful and so on, which Nate understood. While he had been just as disappointed as his mother in his father's past indiscretions, he did love and respect his father. Nate could tell that his father was sincere when he said that he didn't want Nate to repeat his mistakes. That meant coming up with something more to do.
"So... how are you for homework?" Alex asked after a moment as they began walking, generally in the direction of the Anderson home.
"Pretty heavy today," Nate answered, "A worksheet for American history, several problems to finish for basic geometry, and I need to have a persuasive speech written for my language arts class."
"Nothing else?" Alex wondered as they walked along.
"The rest I got done in class," Nate answered, "and I did get started with what I have... I just have some things to finish. How about you?"
"Most of what I got is science related... as you know," Alex answered, "why don't we go down to the library. It'll be quiet enough there that we can get our work done in peace and even talk..."
"Not to head home?" Nate asked.
"I'll meet your folks in time for dinner," Alex answered, "and we'll have room to work at the library."
Nate nodded slowly and gave a sigh. It wouldn't amount to much of a date, but then he also knew that he'd have to get his homework done. It'd be something that his parents had always required of him, regardless of whether or not he or they were weres. In a way that was rather normal, and working with Alex would be perfectly fine. After a block, the two changed directions with Nate following Alex's lead, as while he had gained a general idea on where things were thanks to an outgoing nature, but he didn't mean he knew where everything was. Following Alex would help him get some idea on where things were in his new home town. The walk went quietly, but Nate did figure to see just how truly serious things could be between the two of them, beyond pack mates and the sex between them.
"So... before I moved here... you really didn't have anyone that you were close to?" Nate asked, "I mean beyond being pack-mates and the occasional... you know..."
"Not really," Alex admitted, "It can be tough for us as werewolves... We aren't part of the werecats, male or female, where every member is at least bisexual... and we certainly aren't like the werefoxes that tend to be strictly heterosexual... but we're bigger than both of them. I mean, have you met Fergus and Winston?"
"Werecats..." Nate commented and the thought for a moment, "I think based off of the Fishing Cat and the European Wildcat...though the handbook says that all true werecats are female. Do you know why they don't list the males in with them?"
"Never known why for sure... my dad says its because they don't want to turn the handbook into "War and Peace" and save on paper," Alex answered, "but I'm sure it's more than that..."
Nate nodded. As he did so, Nate returned to the question.
"Anyway..." Alex answered, "yes. They are one of the male werecats... and you notice their smaller stature than us... even in human form?"
Nate nodded. He had noticed some of the secondary changes that lingered in his body even after returning to human form. The loss of body fat, the increase in muscle mass, and the enlargement of other things were all noticeable.
"Well... as was said last night... they've tended to be nervous around me and that I'd accidentally hurt them," Alex said slowly, "and thus I've never got beyond the "friend-zone" with them. And with the few other werewolves that I've met that were also gay... or turned for our packs or as a favor for other packs... things never seemed to connect beyond casual sex and so forth. You're actually the first I've had that's been more than that."
Nate gave a weak smile, as he did remember some mention of things like that from the night before and from dinner with the Ramseys. It gave him a bit of confidence in that Alex was really his first boyfriend as well.
"And I guess I let a lot go to my head in that," Alex finished, "I never wanted to make it seem like ALL I'm using you for is sex..."
"It's okay," Nate answered, "I mean...you are the first man I've ever been with in any way besides being basic friends... and I'm adapting to the whole were libido thing. I've enjoyed EVERYTHING we've had together. Trust me on that. I just want to see if there could be anything more for us than just sex."
"Well... I hope there can be," Alex answered as they arrived at their destination, the Moon Lake Public Library, "because you are a real catch."
Alex gave him a kiss on the cheek and then lead Nate in. Like many of the buildings in Moon Lake, the library looked rather old with regards to its exterior with a stone exterior with rather small looking windows that made it look like something out of the late eighteen hundreds. Though, for a town of Moon Lake's size, the building also looked rather large for a library, and Nate found out why as they entered. It housed a large collection of books, and Nate's nose could even guess at how long some of the books had been in the library's collection from the slight musty smell that filled the interior. And while the interior looked like it had been periodically upgraded to allow for tiled drop ceilings and central air conditioning and heating, the scent of books couldn't fully be removed.
"Eric would love this place," Nate said off hand, not knowing that Eric had already visited the day before with Julie.
"It actually isn't too bad," Alex answered, "for anyone. We're far enough away from places where you could buy books... BAM or Barnes and Noble... so it's a good place for those who enjoy novels or even informational books... And it especially goes well for those of us who are too old to really be up to date on the computer age."
Nate nodded. He had heard off handed mentions on were-beasts being long lived and that he and his parents would be around for a long time things to their transformations. It'd only make sense that there were were-beasts who were born before the computer was invented and hadn't caught up with them. And it wasn't something that was limited to were-beasts, even. There were some people in Minnesota that he remembered having little concept about what computers were.
"Some things never change," Nate chuckled.
"Come on," Alex nodded, "they got a study area in the back and we can get our homework done there. And you can help me with my science..."
"Sure... I'm not sure I got everything right... you actually might want to ask Eric for that stuff," Nate said in a low voice, "but I'm pretty sure I can help."
Alex chuckled and nodded. It might not be much of a date, but it was going rather well.